Springer The Sound of Silence: Lowest-Noise RIAA Phono-Amps: Designer's Guide

There is a wide field of tasks left that can only be satisfyingly attacked with the help of old-fashioned analogue technology, and one of the most important are amplifiers for analogue signals. The strongly expanded content of the second edition of "the sound of silence" leads to affordable amplifier design approaches which will end up in lowest-noise solutions not far away from the edge of physical boundaries set by room temperature and given cartridges - thus, fully compatible with very expensive so called "high-end" or "state-of-the-art" offers on today markets - and, from a noise point of view in most cases outperforming them! With easy to follow mathematical treatment it is demonstrated as well that theory is not far away from reality. Measured SNs will be found within 1dB off the calculated ones and deviations from the exact amplifier transfer won't cross the ± 0.1dB tolerance lines. Additionally, the book presents measurement set-ups and results. Consequently, comparisons with measurement results of test magazine will soon become easier to perform. This new edition includes a new chapters about reference levels, Noise in Amp Input sections, Humming Problems, and much more. Review From the reviews of the second edition:“A reference book that shouldn’t be missing from anyone’s library, be it the low noise design professional, or the enthusiastic audio DIYer. Anybody with an interest in low noise audio amplifiers, from old fashion tubes aficionados to the latest solid state low noise designers, will find this book useful. It is also a very pleasant lecture and, once the reader gets accustomed to the content layout, can also serve as an excellent quick reference. Thank you Mr. Vogel for putting together and maintaining this book!” (Ovidiu Popa, Linear Audio, Vol. 3, April, 2012) From the Back Cover There is a wide field of tasks left that can only be satisfyingly attacked with the help of old-fashioned analog technology. One of the most important fields is that of amplifiers for analog signals - such as for audio purposes.   The content of this book will lead to affordable phono amplifier design approaches which will end up in lowest-noise solutions not far away from the edge of physical boundaries set by room temperature and given cartridges - thus, fully compatible with very expensive so called "high-end" or "state-of-the-art" offers on today markets - and, from a noise point of view, in most cases outperforming them!   In this 2nd edition it is demonstrated with easy to follow mathematical treatment that theory is not far away from reality. Measured signal-to-noise ratios of solid-state and valve designs, both alternatively driven by transformers, will be found within 1dB off the calculated ones and deviations from the exact RIAA transfer won't cross the ± 0.1dB tolerance lines. Additionally, the book presents measurement set-ups and results. Consequently, comparisons with measurement results and test approaches of test magazine will be discussed too.